SIDNEY — Three proposed calendars for the 2022-23 school year were presented during Thursday’s Sidney City Schools Board of Education meeting.
Teachers Amy Baldauf and Deena Golden and Curriculum Director Brooke Gessler asked the board to approve one of the calendars which has four two-hour late starts for teacher collaboration meetings.
Baldauf and Golden described their school day, which begins before the contracted start time and ends late in the evening. Both got emotional when describing how they cared for their students and the need for the two-hour delays without interruption’s.
Gessler said the delays were written into the school calendar years ago but had been eliminated. Teachers will be held responsible, she said, for making the most of the delays for the betterment of the students.
The first calendar option has no late starts and a remove day for a teacher retreat. Options two and three are the same as the first option except option two has the two-hour late starts and no retreat day, while option three has the two-hour late starts and an added day to the calendar for a retreat day. The five late starts total 10 hours of teacher collaboration.
All three calendars call for the first day for students to be Sept. 6, 2022, and the last day of school for students May 24, 2023.
Treasurer Mike Watkins shared the district’s financial status with the board. The final property tax collections for the first half of fiscal year 2021 have been received and those collected for December were more than the budget by $476,713 (7.9% more).
The state foundation payments received for year to date in December were less than budget by $345,340 (4.34%). Through December, the formula was still not calculated correctly, he said, and the Ohio Department of Education was still using information from the previous school year.
For expenditures, salary and benefits continue to be less than budget by $509,593 (4.02%). Purchase services were also less than budget by $166,779 (5.88%). The overall expenditures continue to be less than budget by $722,776 (4.33%).
In other business, the board:
• Hired Deputy Mike McRill to replace Deputy John Linder as a security officer at Northwood Intermediate School. He will be paid $18 an hour.
• Accepted the resignation of Joni Dunham, Sidney Middle school cross country coach effective Jan 10.